This invention relates to apparatus for manipulating a material conditioning tool within a high temperature furnace and, in particular, to apparatus that is capable quickly and accurately of maneuvering a conditioning tool within a relatively large, high temperature furnace.
Some newer furnaces that are now in operation, and many of those being planned for use in the future, for reclaiming scrap material utilize a relatively large melting pit which can save a good deal of energy in certain reclaiming processes. In one such process, the entire roof of the furnace is rolled back and the scrap is deposited directly into the melting pit from an overhead crane or conveyor. The roof is quickly closed before too much energy is lost from the furnace. A conditioning tool is passed into the furnace through a comparatively small access door to evenly distribute the scrap over the pit as it is being melted. Once melted, the conditioning tool is again called upon to skim slag from the top of the liquid metal prior to its being drawn from the furnace and a new load of scrap being charged therein.
As can be seen, the conditioning tool used to service these large furnaces must be afforded a great deal of maneuverability so that it can reach all parts of the furnace through the small access opening. Furthermore the tool must be able to carry out the conditioning operation in a minimum amount of time in order to reduce the amount of heat lost through the access door and to shorten the time that the tool and the associated support equipment is exposed to the high furnace temperatures.
The most pertinent are known to the applicant at the time of filling this application is embodied in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
1,021,710; 3,913,756; PA1 1,349,176; 3,931,898; PA1 3,712,601; 3,960,285; PA1 3,883,124; 4,045,923.
Although all these prior art devices work quite well in carrying out the specific tasks for which they were designed, they all nevertheless fail to deliver the speed and the maneuverability required to manipulate a skimming and material handling tool within a relatively large high temperature furnace.